Take transporting your bike seriously with Thule. Serious racks for serious riders.
We're really lucky at Freewheel, as we get to work with a whole load of excellent brands that make genuinely good products. But even among those there are a few brands that really stand out for their all-around excellence and elegance. Thule is absolutely one of those brands. Thule is the Ferrari of bike carriers (which is a bit ironic seeing as they dont really make a bike rack for a Ferrari, but go with it).
Aside from the general aesthetic and build quality, the best thing about Thule's racks - especially their roof racks - is the lack of faff. If you dont have a bike rack, transporting a bike in a car can be a real chore of disassembly, you take off both wheels, twist the bars here and there, get the rear mech caught on a few things and before you know it you're depositing grease in places you'd rather grease didn't end up. Even if you have a large car, you probably still need to cover the interior with sheets or something to stop the car getting dirty. What's the answer? Don't put the bike inside the car, obviously.
That's where roof racks come in. Breaking it down to the bare essentials, Thule basically does two types of roof rack: ones that contact the frame and ones that don't. The first two are the FreeRide and the ProRide which work by securing the two wheels in place, and then using and arm to clamp the downtube. Now they're perfectly safe to use with carbon frames, but clamping a tube might make you feel a little uneasy, in which case the UpRide, FastRide or TopRide will be what you're after. The UpRide has two arms that hold the front wheel and a strap for the rear wheel, while the Top- and FastRide racks secure the fork using QR or Thru-axle and the rear wheel with a strap. The main difference between the TopRide and FastRide racks is that the FastRide is optimised for bikes with QR forks , while the TopRide can take Thru-axle bikes (although the FastRide can also take Thru-axles, but only with the addition of the adapter set which is sold separately).
If roof racks aren't your thing or you're after something a little less permanent (sure they're not actually permanent, but spend the time attaching those roof racks then come back to us and tell us whether you want to take them off any time soon), then Thule also has a range of rear mounted boot (or trunk, it takes all sorts) racks. These are simple to mount on the car and can be easily removed between uses, fit a wide range of cars and generally make life very easy.
The OutWay Hanging and Platform models are the heroes of this range, the hanging version coming in two or three-bike flavours while the Platform sticks with the dual-bike option. Just sit the bikes on the arms, strap them in and you're ready to go.
Thule also makes towbar racks, but those are definitely more niche and a lot more expensive, as well as a rack called the WanderWay specifically for the Volkswagen T6 (what do you mean, 'that's niche'?). You can buy those on Freewheel along with all the other racks, but for the vast majority of us the roof rack/boot mount racks are infinitely more accessible and practical.
